Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

If you’ve played a Ratchet & Clank game, you’ve played Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Everything that made the series a mainstay in the first place—clever writing, airtight third-person shooting and platforming, just the right amount of wacky hijinks—is present here. So, no, Rift Apart doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it’s self-evidently among the best-looking and smoothest playing console games out right now. A new player character, a Lombax called Rivet whom you spend half the game playing as, injects some freshness into the formula. At the start of the game, longtime series villain Dr. Nefarious steals a machine that allows its user to travel between dimensions. Of course, everything goes wrong, and the universe is…well, read the name of the game. It is then up to you to bounce between these two characters—and between dimensions—to restore the fabric of reality. Tall order for a pair of small space-cats. But given that you have more than a dozen unique guns at your disposal—including one that turns every enemy in the vicinity into shrubbery—you’ll be fine.

A Good Match For: Series newcomers. Series not-newcomers. Anyone who likes platformers, third-person shooters, and fast-paced, lighthearted games.

Not A Good Match For: Players craving a massive, endless open-world game, as Rift Apart is fairly contained. Dr. Nefarious.